Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Ruffed Grouse

Yet again, I'm having to dig into my archives. I've only been able to get out on two walks since the car accident I was involved in (but not at fault) on 28 November 2015, and barely got any new photos. Today, I have had to cancel another volunteer shift and will have to cancel a dental appointment for tomorrow, just so that I can do things like phoning my Insurance Company. Hoping I don't need to go and report it to the Police. Also need to make an appointment to take my car in to be looked at. Yesterday morning, just as I was arrivng at the meeting place for a morning birding walk, I noticed a slight rattling sound. Then, in the evening, the rattle was much worse, sometimes sounding like one metal piece was scraping against another. Such a pain at any time, but December is a really bad month to be without a drivable car! Five of us spent the day, on 23 July 2015, botanizing the land belonging to Darryl Teskey, SW of Calgary and W of Millarville (maybe a 40-minute drive from the city). This was the first time I had been there and I'm so glad I went - I would have missed all sorts of things, including a family of Ruffed Grouse and several fungi. These Grouse are the rare rufous-morph, and we startled them when we were walking through the forest in their direction. Usually, you don't see Grouse because they are so well-hidden. When you get fairly close (sometimes very close) to them, they suddenly "explode" from the tangle of shrubs and plants of the forest floor, making ones heart beat fast! Our walk took us over grassland and through forest, everywhere treacherous with so many fallen logs which were often barely visible. I have never, ever seen so many tiny Skipper butterflies - there must have been hundreds or even thousands of these bright orange beauties that were flying or perched on flowers of every colour. Fortunately, the rain stayed away until we started driving back to Calgary. Quite a lot of black clouds, reminding me of the tornado that passed through/over Calgary just the day before (22 July 2015). Our purpose, as always, was to find and list everything that we saw - wildflowers, trees, grasses, birds, insects, fungi, etc.. Our leader then compiles an extensive list of our finds and this is later sent to the landowner, along with any photos that we might take. Always a win/win situation, as the landowner then has a much better idea of just what is on his property, and we have a most enjoyable day.

Not a very well composed image, but I tried to get the closest possible shot of this bird who was in a hurry : ) I saw this beautiful, female Ruffed Grouse NW of Calgary on 28 March 2013. At least, I'm assuming it is a female, though apparently both genders are similarly marked and sized, making them difficult to tell apart. It was the icing on the cake after seeing four Great Gray Owls, an American Robin, and my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (no photos). As always, it's all about timing - you can drive this road many times and there's no sign of any Grouse. My experience has been that these birds tend to freeze right there in the middle of the road. I got out of my car and slowly walked towards it and stood there, taking a number of shots. Then the bird eventually started hurrying to the other side. Love their feather patterns. "The ruffs are on the sides of the neck in both genders. They also have a crest on top of their head, which sometimes lies flat. Both genders are similarly marked and sized, making them difficult to tell apart, even in hand. The female often has a broken subterminal tail band, while males tend to have unbroken tail bands, though the opposite of either can occur. Females may also do a display similar to the male. Another fairly accurate sign is that rump feathers with a single white dot indicate a female; rump feathers with more than one white dot indicate a male." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffed_Grouse "The toes of Ruffed Grouse grow projections off their sides in winter, making them look like combs. The projections are believed to act as snowshoes to help the grouse walk across snow." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ruffed_grouse/id

Today, I'm again leaving my Waterton images and instead adding three more photos taken two days ago (23 July 2015), closer to home. Five of us spent the day botanizing the land belonging to Darryl Teskey, SW of Calgary and W of Millarville (maybe a 40-minute drive from the city). This was the first time I had been there and I'm so glad I went - I would have missed all sorts of things, including a family of Ruffed Grouse and several fungi. These Grouse are the rare rufous-morph, and we startled them when we were walking through the forest in their direction. Usually, you don't see Grouse because they are so well-hidden. When you get fairly close (sometimes very close) to them, they suddenly "explode" from the tangle of shrubs and plants of the forest floor, making ones heart beat fast! Our walk took us over grassland and through forest, everywhere treacherous with so many fallen logs which were often barely visible. I have never, ever seen so many tiny Skipper butterflies - there must have been hundreds or even thousands of these bright orange beauties that were flying or perched on flowers of every colour. Fortunately, the rain stayed away until we started driving back to Calgary. Quite a lot of black clouds, reminding me of the tornado that passed through Calgary just the day before (22 July 2015). Our purpose, as always, was to find and list everything that we saw - wildflowers, trees, grasses, birds, insects, fungi, etc.. Our leader then compiles an extensive list of our finds and this is later sent to the landowner, along with any photos that we might take. Always a win/win situation, as the landowner then has a much better idea of just what is on his property, and we have a most enjoyable day. This summer, with so many botanizing outings like this, plus two 3-day trips to Waterton Lakes National Park, I am so behind with the photos that I need to edit and e-mail! "The dappled, grayish or reddish Ruffed Grouse is hard to see, but its “drumming on air” display is a fixture of many spring forests. It can come as a surprise to learn this distant sound, like an engine trying to start, comes from a bird at all. This plump grouse has a cocky crest and a tail marked by a broad, dark band near the tip. Displaying males expose a rich black ruff of neck feathers, giving them their name." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruffed_Grouse/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffed_grouse

On 16 July 2014, it was another hot day, and my computer room became unbearably uncomfortable. That meant only one thing - I would have to drive around in my car for some air-conditioning. Spent about four hours cruising the backroads SW of the city, not seeing a whole lot. Went as far as Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, with the intention of doing just a very short walk into the forest. Didn't get that far, though, as there were things to photograph around the edge of the tiny parking lot and just part way along the path that leads to the two short boardwalks. The first thing I saw and heard was a Tennessee Warbler and when I reached it, discovered that there were now several young ones, too. Talk about friendly little birds - not sure that they didn't think I was going to feed them. Interesting to see birds that acted rather like the Black-capped Chickadees - just as fast-moving, too, making it difficult to get even a half-decent photo. The next thing that welcomed me to the park was a beautiful, bright orange Western Wood Lily. They always almost glow amongst all the greenery. A few other plants that I photographed included Sticky Purple Geranium and Richardson's Geranium, Purple Avens, One-flowered WIntergreen, One-sided Wintergreen, Pink Pyrola, Twin Flower, Creamy Peavine, Bishop's Cap (already in seed), and Round-leaved Orchid. On the way home from Brown-Lowery, I saw a couple of fun things. One was a Wilson's Snipe on a wooden post to which was attached a Bluebird/Tree Swallow nesting box. I've never seen one by a nesting box before. The other thing I saw was this Ruffed Grouse female walking along the side of the main road. Didn't realize what it was until I had driven past it. Did a quick U-turn and, rounding a bend, saw not just the adult standing on the road, but also a young one. I pulled over to the edge of the road and very slowly walked a little closer - then I noticed about four other youngsters in the grass. Mom walked very slowly to the middle of the road and one brave little soul took a few very hesitant steps towards her. It wasn't quite sure that it liked being that far out in the open, so started to return to its siblings. This was repeated a few times, with me becoming more anxious that a car was bound to come racing down the road at any minute. Another of the babies tried to take a few brave steps - which is when a vehicle appeared. With Mom and two of her babies (seen in the photo in a comment box below) on the road, where they'd been for maybe 10 minutes, I just had to signal to the driver, who slowed down, waited a moment, and then got out of her car and loudly clapped her hands. Off they all flew, into the long grass. I suspect she was a country girl - and not a photographer, lol! If only she had scared them off to the side of the road that they had been trying to get to! And so ended my fun experience ..... and I returned to my house, that felt like walking into an oven.

Two days ago, 16 July 2014, it was another hot day, and my computer room became unbearably uncomfortable. That meant only one thing - I would have to drive around in my car for some air-conditioning. Spent about four hours cruising the backroads SW of the city, not seeing a whole lot. Went as far as Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, with the intention of doing just a very short walk into the forest. Didn't get that far, though, as there were things to photograph around the edge of the tiny parking lot and just part way along the path that leads to the two short boardwalks. The first thing I saw and heard was a Tennessee Warbler and when I reached it, discovered that there were now several young ones, too. Talk about friendly little birds - not sure that they didn't think I was going to feed them. Interesting to see birds that acted rather like the Black-capped Chickadees - just as fast-moving, too, making it difficult to get even a half-decent photo. The next thing that welcomed me to the park was a beautiful, bright orange Western Wood Lily. They always almost glow amongst all the greenery. A few other plants that I photographed included Sticky Purple Geranium and Richardson's Geranium, Purple Avens, One-flowered WIntergreen, One-sided Wintergreen, Pink Pyrola, Twin Flower, Creamy Peavine, Bishop's Cap (already in seed), and Round-leaved Orchid. On the way home from Brown-Lowery, I saw a couple of fun things. One was a Wilson's Snipe on a wooden post to which was attached a Bluebird/Tree Swallow nesting box. I've never seen one by a nesting box before. The other thing I saw was a Ruffed Grouse female walking along the side of the main road. Didn't realize what it was until I had driven past it. Did a quick U-turn and, rounding a bend, saw not just the adult standing on the road, but also a young one. I pulled over to the edge of the road and very slowly walked a little closer - then I noticed about four other youngsters in the grass. Mom walked very slowly to the middle of the road and one brave little soul took a few very hesitant steps towards her. It wasn't quite sure that it liked being that far out in the open, so started to return to its siblings. This was repeated a few times, with me becoming more anxious that a car was bound to come racing down the road at any minute. Another of the babies tried to take a few brave steps - which is when a vehicle appeared. With Mom and two of her babies (seen in the photo above) on the road, where they'd been for maybe 10 minutes, I just had to signal to the driver, who slowed down, waited a moment, and then got out of her car and loudly clapped her hands. Off they all flew, into the long grass. I suspect she was a country girl - and not a photographer, lol! If only she had scared them off to the side of the road that they had been trying to get to! And so ended my fun experience ..... and I returned to my house, that felt like walking into an oven. The weather forecast for today, 16 July 2014, is 31C (feeling like 33C) this afternoon. It's already 26C this morning. I have a volunteer shift today, so at least I will have a few hours in air-conditioning (though not very efficient).

On Monday, 31st December, I took part in the 2007 Christmas Bird Count in the Sheep River/Turner Valley area, south of Calgary. The weather was an absolutely perfect winter's day! On one of our stops for taking a short walk, we were so lucky to have this Ruffed Grouse fly into a tree close to the path. The lighting wasn't the best, but you can still see the rather intricate feather patterns on this bird. A good sighting! These birds are common year-round in Alberta, which doesn't necessarily mean that you will be lucky enough to see one. The Ruffed Grouse is named for the black "ruffs" on the sides of its neck. Displaying males erect these black patches to impress females". From "Birds of Alberta" by Fisher and Acorn.

Not a very well composed image, but I tried to get the closest possible shot of this bird who was in a hurry : ) I did take a few photos that have the whole bird in them, but thought I'd show the detail as closely as I could. I saw this beautiful, female Ruffed Grouse NW of Calgary on 28 March 2013. At least, I'm assuming it is a female, though apparently both genders are similarly marked and sized, making them difficult to tell apart, even in hand. It was the icing on the cake after seeing four Great Gray Owls, an American Robin, and my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (no photos). As always, it's all about timing - you can drive this road many times and there's no sign of any Grouse. "The ruffs are on the sides of the neck in both genders. They also have a crest on top of their head, which sometimes lies flat. Both genders are similarly marked and sized, making them difficult to tell apart, even in hand. The female often has a broken subterminal tail band, while males tend to have unbroken tail bands, though the opposite of either can occur. Females may also do a display similar to the male. Another fairly accurate sign is that rump feathers with a single white dot indicate a female; rump feathers with more than one white dot indicate a male." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffed_Grouse "The toes of Ruffed Grouse grow projections off their sides in winter, making them look like combs. The projections are believed to act as snowshoes to help the grouse walk across snow." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ruffed_grouse/id

On Monday, 31st December, I took part in the 2007 Christmas Bird Count in the Sheep River/Turner Valley area, south of Calgary. The weather was an absolutely perfect winter's day! On one of our stops for taking a short walk, we were so lucky to have this Ruffed Grouse fly into a tree close to the path. The lighting wasn't the best, but you can still see the rather intricate feather patterns on this bird. A good sighting! These birds are common year-round in Alberta, which doesn't necessarily mean that you will be lucky enough to see one. The Ruffed Grouse is named for the black "ruffs" on the sides of its neck. Displaying males erect these black patches to impress females". From "Birds of Alberta" by Fisher and Acorn.

This Ruffed Grouse overtook me on a walk last year. A couple of people walking behind her had forced her to move faster and past me. We could hear young ones nearby in the bushes and grass.

Rescued these feathers from a site where a Ruffed Grouse had been killed. Quite beautiful feathers.

A friend took me looking for Ruffed Grouse this summer and this time we witnessed this male Ruffed Grouse doing his drumming courtship display on a log in a wooded area of Calgary. The drumming sound, made by beating the air with its wings, feels as if it is vibrating through your body. Sounds very much like a motor starting up. Males and females look similar. Thanks, David, as always!